Withering Rose
by RamRam12
Summary: Cancer is a bitch. Ruby Rose would know. She has it. And she has handled it alone perfectly fine, but what will happen when she attends high school and meets people who won’t let her handle it alone. (Modern High School AU)
1. Withhering Rose: Prologue

Burning alive from the inside out was an accurate description of how Ruby felt right now as she was finally pulled out from the hellish machine she was forced to visit every month.

Ruby sat up in the flimsy gown she was always forced to wear when coming in for a round of radiation as she immediately leaned over to the side to empty her already barren stomach onto the floor. Luckily, there was a trash can there since the last few times the same thing had happened immediately after her treatment, so the staff had been prepared the last few times for this to happen.

She managed to stop throwing up after awhile, and then two nurses came into the room to help Ruby stand up. Ruby reluctantly allowed the two nurses to support her as she shakily stood up. Once she gains her footing she lets out a grunt which makes the two nurses let go of her, and she wobbles a little before balancing herself out with a loud sigh. The nurses look at her as they wait for her to get her footing before they motion for her follow them which earns them a very noticeable eye roll from the small teen as she follows them out into the hall towards the room containing her parents.

The nurses left Ruby be as she entered the room and was met with two pairs of concerned eyes. She let out a sigh as she sagged a bit before giving them a small smile before turning towards the table in the room and grabbing her clothes off of it and changing back into them quickly. Once she clicked her cloak around her neck she let out a loud groan as she felt bile start to rise in her throat again. She felt a hand rubbing small circles against her back before presenting a trash can for her which she promptly started dry heaving into seeing how she'd already emptied what little she had in her stomach before.

"This was a tough one wasn't it little rose?" Summer Rose, Ruby's mother, asked the heaving girl, concern lacing her voice as she continued to comfort her by rubbing her back.

Ruby gave a slight nod before managing to lean back against Taiyang Xiao Long, her father, who had positioned himself behind the pair. She let out a tired sigh as she let her eyes drop closed while letting out a soft hum of approval as he hugged her tightly. Summer watched the pair with a slight smile before Taiyang spoke.

"Well at least you won't have to worry about doing this for another month Rubes." Taiyang stated happily while giving his daughter a small squeeze which made Ruby let out a fake sound of pain which made the whole family on the floor start to laugh. Until they were interrupted by a knock at the door before it opened.

"Sorry to intrude, but I've brought the latest images of Ruby's tumor Mrs and Mr Rose-Xiao Long?" Ruby's long-standing Doctor announced as he slid through the doorway and into the room, quietly shutting the door behind him as he made his way to the computer in the room.

Taiyang gave a nervous chuckle as the family picked themselves off the floor and made their way to sit in the three chairs facing a screen. Ruby brought the trash can with her as she watched the screen intensely with both of her parents' hands on her shoulders.

"So I have good news!" The doctor exclaimed with a smile which made Ruby wanna bounce up and down, but she knew better than to do that right after chemo. Instead she plastered a giant grin across her entire face before excitedly asking, "What's the good news doc?"

With a chuckle the doctor smiled at Ruby before responding, "Why don't you take a look for yourself Ruby?" Ruby turned to look at the screen that held two images. One of tumor from her last scan and other from the scan she had done today. The difference between the two was small but noticeable and brought tears to Ruby's eyes as she turned to look at the doctor again. "Y-You m-mean it's a-actually s-shrinking now?" A shaking Ruby asked in disbelief as she heard her parents sobbing softly behind her.

"Indeed. I'm glad we kept you on chemo instead of switching to another method now. I knew it was just a matter of time before the tumor would start shrinking instead of growing like it had been." The doctor says as he pulls up another picture of the tumor when they had first discovered it almost 3 years ago on Ruby's 12th birthday. Ruby had been having a party when she started coughing up blood and was immediately rushed to the emergency room where multiple scans revealed a rather large stage 3 lung tumor located on Ruby's left lung. Since that day Summer and Taiyang has poured every ounce of effort and money into getting treatment for Ruby which led to them moving from Patch to Vale where she could receive better, more advanced treatment for her cancer. Ruby had been receiving chemotherapy for the past 3 years from the Vale Children Hospital without any sign of improvement. In fact, the tumor had only continued to grow, but at a slower pace until today.

Ruby sobbed happily as Summer and Taiyang hugged their daughter half to death before Ruby started coughing violently which made both of her parents let go as they watched their daughter cough into her sleeve feverishly. Ruby let out a groan as she finished coughing her throat feeling raw as she looked down to see the usual blood staining her equally blood red shirt.

"Not cured yet though, huh?" Ruby said with a laugh as she looked at the doctor who gave her a sad smile before nodding. Ruby let out an exasperated sigh before standing up and heading towards the door.

"I'll be in the waiting room, come get me when you're done talking about "adult" stuff," Ruby said as she left the room. She knew what they were talking about. Her treatment plan and how much it was going to cost which she had heard many times before, so she opted to leave that talk to her parents while she strolled down the halls of the hospital. She said hi to long term patients she knew as well as staff that knew her before she made her way to the waiting room where she knew her favorite person would be. As she practically skipped into the waiting room she was met with a chorus of "Hi Ruby" from nearly everyone there which made her smile brightly and wave before she turned her attention to finding a certain patient with multicolor hair. After scanning the room a few times she found who she was looking for as a evil idea popped into her head making Ruby giggle before putting it into action.

Ruby stealthily approached the small girl across the room, doing her best not to be noticed by her as she snuck up behind the smaller girl. With a massive smirk Ruby reached up and poked the girl in her sides with her fingers, causing the smaller girl to completely freeze up and let out a strangled gasp of sorts.

"Oh my gosh Neo that was priceless!" Ruby exclaimed as she laughed her head off, moving in front of the small girl who was now glaring daggers at the cookie loving girl in front of her. Neo crosses her arms before reaching for a notebook braid eand her furiously writing in it before holding it up for Ruby to read. Ruby managed to stop laughing and wiped the tears from her eyes before turning to read what Neo had written.

 **"Fuck you Rose."**

"Well fuck you too Neo." Ruby deadpanned to the clearly unamused girl with an IV in her arm. Ruby eyed the IV curiously before looking back at Neo for an explanation. Neo was a long term patient at the hospital and was two years older than Ruby at 17. She was in remission for a tumor that had attached itself to her voice box which she had eventually had removed along with her voice box leaving her mute. Hence why she had to write things down on a notebook. She began scribbling in her notebook again as she noticed me looking at the IV before turning it around for me to read it again.

 **"Been having problems drinking because my throat is still swollen, so my doctor suggested I get some IV fluids until my throat stops swelling completely."**

"Ohhhhhhhhhh," Ruby said as she read it. Neo rolled her eyes before smiling at the cloaked girl in front of her before she pulled the notebook back to write something else while Ruby held back a coughing fit that was threatening to burst forward. Ruby didn't want to worry Neo plus she wanted to know what Neo was going to ask or tell her. She managed to hold it back as Neo finally turned her notebook around again for Ruby to read.

 **"You get to go to public school again for the first time in three years tomorrow right?"**

"Yup!" Ruby responded excitedly "I can't wait! I'll be going to Beacon High School! I'll finally get to interact with other people my own age in a normal setting! Not that this isn't great and all, but they'll be normal and I'll finally get to be a normal kid again! Oh I'll have to tell you all abo-" Ruby exclaimed as she began to ramble until she started to cough again. Neo immediately leaned forward to rub the younger girl's back as she coughed, frowning at the sight of the younger girl violently coughing. Eventually Ruby stopped and she looked up at Neo to see the usual concerned look everyone gave the girl before she nodded at Neo to let her know she was fine.

"Ruby? It's time to go little Rose!" Taiyang called out through the waiting room, causing a collective sound of awes through the room as Ruby's face turned as bright red as her cloak. Blushing bright red she cast a glance at Neo who was holding her hand over her mouth as if she was giggling at Ruby with made Ruby puff out her cheeks before stomping away from Neo towards her parents.

"REALLY DAD! I'M 15 FOR GOODNESS SAKE!" Ruby yelled at her dad from the backseat as the family drove home from the hospital.

"What? You're my little rose!" Taiyang exclaimed as he drove, unsure what his daughter was upset about seeing how she never cared before when he called her that.

"Well I don't need my only friends and complete STRANGERS to know!" Ruby argued as she sunk back into her seat, pulling her hood up and over her face as she thought back to the looks on the complete strangers faces. Letting out a groan Ruby pulls her hood over her face even more as she attempted to become one with the seat she was in. She heard her mom let out a sigh before a loud smack was heard through the car.

"Ow! What the hell was that for Summer!" Taiyang asked as he rubbed his now throbbing shoulder as he pulled into the family's driveway.

"That was for being an idiot and embarrassing your daughter." Summer responded as she got out of the car, letting the door close with a bang. Ruby burst out laughing when she looked at her dad's confused and hurt expression as he followed Summer out of the car. Ruby followed soon after, making her way into the house where she was met with an adorable black and white corgi which she promptly scooped up.

"Hey Zwei! It's nap time! Finally!" Ruby said to the small dog in her arms as she let out a yawn. Zwei let out a bark of approval as Ruby said goodnight to her parents even though it was only 5 in the afternoon. Chemo always tired her out and when she got home she always wanted to sleep, and when she did she was out for at least 12 hours usually. The chemo also made her lose her appetite since she'd always end up just throwing it up anyway, so she and Zwei has made it a ritual that every time she got home from chemo they would crash together in her bed. She made her way upstairs and into her room which had acolor scheme of white, red, and black with roses as the theme. She set Zwei down on her bed sheets where he immediately curled into a ball and looked at her expectantly to get into the bed with him. Smiling at the sight she went to get changed into her pajamas. She dug through her drawers and mangaged to find something she deemed fit to sleep in and began to put it on but stopped halfway through as she made a mad dash for the bathroom as she started throwing up into the toilet. After a few minutes she finally stopped and let out a groan as she leaned back before flushing the toilet.

"Chemo sucks." Ruby murmured to herself before she felt Zwei licking her hand which made her smile as she rubbed the dog's head, making him bark happily at her before she shakily stood up and made her way back towards her bed. Ruby didn't bother trying to get the rest of her pajamas on deciding to just leave what she had worn today on instead as she crawled into bed. She wrapped herself in the blankets, letting the warmth surround her and help calm her stomach a bit. She was extremely happy that the good news from today had completely distracted her from the usual burning sensation she felt throughout her body after getting chemo that usually lasted a few hours after getting it done. With a happy sigh she closed her eyes as she felt Zwei lay on top of her as she began to drift off to sleep.

 _I wonder what tomorrow will bring..._

 _Italics_ \- Ruby's Thoughts

 **Bold** \- Neo's Writing


	2. Withering Rose: Chapter 1

Ruby had expected to wake up to the sound of her alarm, but instead she woke up to the feeling of a pound of bricks being thrown against her chest. Letting out a strangled gasp of surprise she rapidly blinked away her drowsiness to see who her assailant was. As she opened her eyes she was met with nothing but golden blonde hair in her face which made her immediately recognize her attacker as she attempted to shove her off.

"Yangggggggggg! Get off of me you big blonde idiot! You're gonna crush me!" Ruby whined at the older girl as she tried to wiggle out from beneath her. Yang laughed at the sight of Ruby trying to wiggle worm her way out from beneath her and decided she didn't want Ruby to escape just yet as she wrapped her arms around her and squeezed her half to death in a bear hug.

"But sis! You need to get up and get ready, and it's been FOREVER since I've seen you!" Yang whined to the younger girl trapped in her arms as she continued to laugh at Ruby's futile attempts to escape the older girl's grasp.

"How am I supposed to get ready with you squeezing me half to death Yang?" Ruby asked with annoyance as she glared daggers at her older sister who stopped laughing to ponder the question.

"You could just go to school in your pajamas!" Yang exclaimed after pondering the question for far too long. Yang looked at Ruby for approval for her idea, but was met with Ruby looking at her with the coldest glare she'd ever seen her make.

"Yeesh! Fine I'll let you go!" Yang said indignantly as she released the younger girl who let out a sigh of relief at the newfound freedom from her sister's grasp. Ruby hopped out of bed before turning to face a now pouting Yang. The sight made Ruby giggle as she watched her older sister crossed her arms and pouted like a 3 year old. With a laugh Ruby smacked Yang's head lightly causing the older girl to glare playfully at the younger one.

"You know I love you Yang, just not this early in the morning." Ruby laughed at the blonde's expression after she hit her before turning around to start getting dressed for the day.

"I know you do." Yang replied as she leaned against the headboard of Ruby's bed, pulling her phone out while she waited for her to finish getting dressed.

 _Fuck._ Was Ruby's only thought before she dissolved into a coughing fit. Yang immediately rushed over to Ruby's side and rubbed circles on her back as she coughed for a good minute straight. Luckily, Ruby had already put her red colored shirt on, so Yang couldn't tell that Ruby had just coughed up a bunch of blood.

While Ruby trusted her half sister with her life, she didn't want anyone to know she had cancer. People treat you differently when they know you have cancer, and Ruby didn't want that. She just wanted her sister to be happy and treat her like any sister would. Ruby didn't want to be treated like the dying child, but instead be seen as just Ruby Rose.

Ruby gently waved Yang off as she finished getting dressed, Yang's eyes staring a hole through her back as she waited for Ruby to finish.

"I'm set to go Yang." Ruby said as she clipped her signature red cloak into place before turning around to face the fiery blonde on her bed. Yang smiled before standing up and going over to rub Ruby's hair affectionately before grinning.

"You're going to love Beacon sis. If anyone bugs you let me know and I'll-"

"You'll teach them a lesson. I know Yang and I doubt you'll need to do that anyway." Ruby giggled as she rolled her eyes playfully at her sister before she made her way out of her room and downstairs with Yang in tow behind her.

"Hey! I'm your big sister! It's my job to beat people up who harm you!" Yang argued as we descended down the stairs and into the kitchen where three people sat waiting for us. Ruby rolled her eyes before shifting her gaze to the extra person in the room that wasn't her parents which was Yang's mom, Raven Branwen.

Raven was Yang's mother and was at one point married to Ruby's father, Taiyang. They had Yang before they got a divorce since they didn't love each other anymore, and then Tai met Summer and got remarried and they had Ruby. Raven and Tai were still good friends so it wasn't uncommon for Yang to frequently visit the Rose-Xiao Long household.

Raven waved at Ruby and Ruby grinned before waving back and bouncing over to her.

"Ravennnnnn!" Ruby shouted happily as she wrapped her arms around the older woman's midsection and gave her a big bear hug which made the woman laugh before she hugged back.

"It's good to see you too Ruby." Raven chuckled at Ruby's enthusiasm as Summer and Tai looked at the scene before them and laughed. They knew Raven wasn't very big on hugging and such, so seeing their daughter be able to get the woman to hug her back without gagging was amusing to say the least.

"What the heck Ruby! I thought you said you weren't a morning person!" Yang whined as she watched her younger sister eagerly hug her mother instead of herself. Yang playfully pouted before going up to Ruby's parents and pulling them into a big hug which both of them reciprocated after the initial confusion of what was happening.

Ruby turned to glare at Yang before giggling and deciding to turn the tables against Yang as she approached the group hug and joined in and she hugged Yang. Yang tensed up before chuckling and reaching behind herself to put Ruby in a head lock and using her other hand to mess up Ruby hair with a chuckle.

"Yangggggg! Stopppppp!" Ruby cries out as she laughed, knowing her hair was going to be a god awful mess if Yang kept this up.

"Not until you admit I'm the best big sister ever!" Yang declared to Ruby, continuing to ruffle her sister's hair while their parents watched the scene and laughed.

"Yang! Yang is the best sister in the whole wide world!" Ruby squealed as she struggled against her sister's iron like grasp on her head.

"And don't you forget it sis!" Yang laughed loudly before letting Ruby go. Ruby staggered backwards a bit before straightening herself out and then sticking her tongue out at Yang.

"Okay, Okay. You two need to get going or else you'll be late." Summer said with amusement lacing her voice as she watched the two sisters. Summer grabbed Ruby's bag and handed it to her with a proud smile on her face. "Remember, if you need anything at all don't hesitate to call. I'll come get you and you won't have to go ba-"

"I know mom! Nothing is going to happen to me! I'm a big girl and I can handle myself!" Ruby scoffed at her mom who had always been overly protective of her as she slipped the bag she was handed onto her back before casting a bright smile at her family. "Ruby Rose is ready for her first day at Beacon High School! Let's roll out Yang!" Ruby declared before dashing out the front door towards Yang's motorcycle.

"Take it easy Rubes! You can't go anywhere without me anyway!" Yang called after her easily excited sister as she said her goodbyes to Summer and Tai. She waved at her mom before heading out the front door and towards a bouncing Ruby standing next to her bike.

"It's been soooooooooooo long since I've rode Bumblebee!" Ruby exclaimed as she looked the bike over with an excited glint in her eye.

Ruby had always been one for machines, and that love for them only grew as she was homeschooled due to her predicament. Constantly being alone in your room with only your parents home left young Ruby bored and lonely, so she turned to machines. Things she could make in her free time and would keep her occupied. She had actually helped build Yang's bike last year as a birthday gift to her, but really it felt like more of a gift to Ruby. She got to spend time outside of the house, and she got to build a bike with her big sister!

Ruby continued to examine the bike until Yang chuckled and slapped a helmet onto Ruby's head.

"Come on Rubes. We need to get going. You can ogle Bumblebee all you want after school." Yang said with a smirk as Ruby's face flushed a light pink. Yang hopped onto the bike and started it up, the motor purring as she reved it.

"I was not ogling..." Ruby mumbled as she climbed onto the back of the bike and wrapped her arms around Yang tightly. Yang had never been one for taking things slowly especially not when it came to her bike which was currently speeding down road towards the school. Ruby watched as trees and buildings wizzed past them at high speeds, making them look more like blobs of color. Ruby buried her face in the back of Yang's jacket after awhile, her face becoming cold from the constant flow of wind whipping against her face. Eventually Yang slowed down as she pulled into the parking lot of the school with was bustling with students.

"We're here Rubes! You can let go of me now." Yang chuckled as she glanced back at the small girl squeezing her midsection tightly. Ruby let go of Yang and slid off the bike and nearly collided with the ground if it wasn't for a very pale hand that wrapped itself around her wrist that prevented that from happening. Ruby felt her face turn beat red as she realized that some random stranger just prevented her from making a complete fool of herself on her first day. She shakily stood up but kept her gaze on the ground where she saw expensive looking white shoes on her savior's feet which made the person look even paler.

"My eyes are up here, dolt." A very annoyed sounding girl said to Ruby as she looked at the small, red girl before her. Yang hopped off her bike and laughed loudly at the scene in front of her which drew the attention of surrounding students at the noise.

"Never thought I'd see the day the Ice Queen actually helped someone!" Yang exclaimed as she threw an arm around the white haired girl who looked less than pleased by the action.

"Get off of me you barbarian!" The snow haired girl huffed at the blonde as she wiggles out from the girl's grasp before turning back to face Ruby with a curious stare that made Ruby shift nervously where she stood as she timidly glanced up every so often.

"So Yang, who's the girl who got to ride Bumblebee before I did?" The white haired girl asks with a hint of jealousy in her voice as she scanned Ruby. Ruby hesitantly laughed before looking at Yang with a pleading look silently asking for her help.

"This, dear Weiss, is my baby sister Ruby! You know, the one who loves cookies?" Yang interjected before Weiss could interrogate Ruby. Weiss nodded slowly almost like she didn't believe they were sisters before extending her hand towards Ruby.

"Well, any friend of Yang is my friend too. Welcome to Beacon." Weiss said with a small smile which Ruby copied before reaching out to shake her hand. Once they finished Yang reached to remove Ruby's helmet and place it in a bag on her bike before grinning at the pair in front of her.

"Well Ruby, you've met Weiss, and now it's time you meet the rest of the gang!"


	3. Withering Rose: Chapter 2

The rest of Yang's gang ended up being inside the school already in what Yang called their "usual spot". As Yang led Ruby inside, Ruby watched the Ice Queen curiously as Yang teased the girl. While Weiss pretended not to like Yang she actually adored the blonde brute, and anyone with a pair of eyes could easily see through the facade just like Ruby could. Anytime Yang would crack one of her signature puns or took a jab at the pale girl she would pretend to scold the taller girl before a small smile would appear on her face each time. Ruby smiled at the two's antics and wondered how close Weiss was to Yang among other things as they took a right down a hallway just past the cafeteria which looked huge just from the small glance Ruby had taken at it. Lost in her thoughts, Ruby didn't notice that Yang and Weiss had stopped in their tracks which led to the small caped girl to practically walk into a wall. At least that's what walking into Yang felt like as Ruby let out a groan while her sister let out a chuckle of amusement watching her little sister bring her hand up to caress her probably bruised nose.

"Jeez Ruby, spacing out already huh?" Yang teased the girl who was glaring up at Yang now with a slightly red nose. Yang had a face eating grin on her face as tears began to well up in her eyes from trying to restrain herself from laughing. She began to shake before she was suddenly laughing so hard there were tears streaming down her eyes as she doubled over with laughter, confusing both of the short girls before her.

"Did I miss something? Did Yang do some drugs before coming to school?" Weiss asked as she raised an eyebrow at the cackling Yang before turning to Ruby and giving her a similar look.

"I have no clue." Ruby said honestly as she watched her sister with both confusion and worry as Yang clutched her stomach and continued to laugh as she began to pound one of her fists against the wall.

"O-oh m-m-my god! Y-you loooooook l-like a c-clown!" Yang managed to sputter out between her fits of laughter. Both Weiss and Ruby's expressions changed to ones of complete and utter embarrassment albeit for different reasons. Ruby had flushed because she was worried she DID look like a clown now and reached up to cover her nose while glancing around nervously to make sure no one had seen it. Weiss on the other hand had flushed because Yang was making a big spectacle out of something stupid, and the Ice Queen's embarrassment quickly changed to anger as her red cheeks puffed out. Weiss raised a hand before bringing it down to slap the blonde's shoulder with all her might which made Yang calm down a bit as she reached up to wipe some tears from her eyes.

"Awwwwwwe, don't be like that Snowpea!" Yang whined a bit as she finally stopped laughing and crossed her arms while raising an eyebrow at the currently red faced girl standing across from her.

"I've told you MULTIPLE times before that I don't want you to call me that! YANG XIAO LONG!" Weiss practically screamed at Yang who winced away and covered her ears from the upset girl as she screamed at her.

"Calm down! You're yelling loud enough for all of Remanent to be able to hear you!" Yang said with a small frown as she turned to face Ruby instead and gave her a weak smile.

"Hehe... sorry about Weiss, she's just a bit uptight sometimes, buttttttttt you can go ahead and head into the art room. That's where everyone else is right now. I'll stay out here and try to get Weiss to chill out a bit, and don't worry about your nose it honestly doesn't look that bad." Yang said apologetically to Ruby before turning back around and walking closer to Weiss who began to angrily speak to Yang. Ruby chuckled before pulling her hand away from her nose and looking nervously at the door to her right that Yang had said was the art room. Ruby felt herself start to tremble with what she hoped was excitement before she mentally hyped herself up to head into the room. After a few moments Ruby made her way through the entrance and into the art room where she was met with a strange sight.

In front of Ruby stood a group of 3 people all looking extremely different from each other. The first person Ruby noticed was a boy with black hair that had a pink streak in it. The boy was holding down or at least trying to hold down a slightly smaller girl with ginger colored hair who appeared to be trying to claw her way towards another girl who had fiery red colored hair who had a smirk on her face, and a devilish look in her eyes as she was typing away on a phone that clearly wasn't her own.

"GIMMIE MY PHONE BACK YOU SUCCUBUS!" The small ginger yelled loudly at the red headed girl who just grinned and began typing on the phone faster as she realized the ginger was beginning to be able to wiggle herself from underneath the guy.

"Nora! Calm down! This is for your own good!" The black haired boy tried telling the unruly ginger who had nearly wormed her way out from beneath him.

"HOW IS DELETING GRIMM APOCALYPSE FROM MY PHONE FOR MY OWN GOOD YOU FIENDS!" The ginger shrieked before scrambling out from beneath the boy and sending him tumbling to the side towards Ruby. He stopped right before Ruby's feet in a daze as Ruby looked down at the boy in shock before returning her attention to the other girls.

"Annnnnnnnnd done!" The red head declared triumphantly as she torn her gaze away from the phone. Her expression immediately shifted from a wide smile to a look of pure terror as she saw the ginger charging towards her at full force.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The ginger yelled as she ran towards the red head almost like a battle cry before colliding with the girl and sending them both flying backwards and tumbling towards a wall that they both nearly slammed into before the red head dropped the phone and began to plead with the angry ginger.

"Please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The red headed girl squealed beneath the girl who had began attacking her sides in a way Ruby hadn't expected. The ginger haired girl was tickling the girl's sides with a wicked grin planted on her face as she did.

"Dang right you are!" The ginger laughed before rolling off the red head who was clutching her sides still laughing with tears streaming down her face. She promptly went to grab her phone before turning to face towards Ruby which made Ruby tense up. Ruby was worried the crazy ginger haired girl was going to attack her, and her fear only grew as she began to walk towards her. However, her attention was drawn elsewhere by the sound of a voice coming from somewhere.

"I'm sorry about what you just whitenessed." The guy from before said as Ruby looked down to see the guy sitting up and rubbing his head while looking at Ruby with curiosity. Ruby was still in shock as the ginger haired girl finally reached them and tilted her head while her gaze swept over Ruby before switching to look down at the boy with a smile.

"I'm sorrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyy Rennnnnnnnnn, But Pyrrha started it!" The ginger haired girl whined while she helped Ren up from the floor before returning her attention to Ruby who was still as stiff as a board.

"And whooooooooooooooooo are you?" The ginger asked Ruby while leaning in close to Ruby's face to examine it before being pulled back by Ren.

"Give the girl some space Nora. We've talked about this. Personal bubble, remember?" Ren said to Nora as he sent an apologetic smile towards Ruby as the red head whom Ruby assumed was the Pyrrha that Nora had been talking about.

"Hello there!" Pyrrha said excitedly to Ruby who was beginning to relax a bit thanks to Ren removing Nora from her personal space. Ruby finally gave the trio in front of her a timid smile which made Nora and Pyrrha both smile back.

"Sorry about that, Nora is a bit... eccentric at times..." Pyrrha said to Ruby with a nervous chuckle as she glanced towards Nora who was currently distracted by making sure Ren was alright.

"It's alright honestly. I should've know the art kids would be a little out there." Ruby said with a laugh trying to crack a joke which seemed to work as Pyrrha let out a small chuckle at it before placing a hand on her hip and looking at the small girl in front of her with burning curiosity that eventually got the better of her.

"Sooooooooo... I've never seen you here before, so you must be new to Beacon?" Pyrrha asked Ruby which Ruby gave a nod to confirm Pyrrha's suspicions about her being new to the school. Ruby tensed up a bit as she felt a coughing fit starting to form.

"So what's your name? Mine's Pyrrha, the ginger is Nora and the guy is Ren." Pyrrha said with a smile as she looked down at the younger girl who had just tended up. Pyrrha frowned a bit and wondered why she had and was about to ask her what was wrong when she was interrupted.

"RUBYYYY!" Yang had practically pounced onto the smaller's back as she wrapped her arms around her sister's throat lightly with a huge grin on her face. Weiss trailed in behind Yang and rolled her eyes at the sisters before noticing how pale Ruby looked and frowned.

"Yang get off of Ruby." Weiss said as she took a step closer to the sisters.

"Awwwe, you jealous Weiss? I'll hug you if you'd ju-" Yang began as smiled smugly at the pale girl before being cut off.

"Yang get off of her this instant!" Weiss said in her most stern voice which made Yang pause for a moment before releasing her hold on her sister who immediently slumped over a bit and began violently coughing into the sleeve of her shirt. Everyone watched with wide eyes as Ruby coughed into her sleeve. She sounded like a 20 year smoker as she coughed into her sleeve for what felt like forever, but in reality was only about a minute. Once she stopped she brought her head back up and let out a very soft sigh of relief that it was over.

Yang was the first to snap back to reality as she rushed over to Ruby and began to rub her back gently.

"Are you okay Ruby? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you..." Yang said to Ruby apologetically with small tears forming in the corners of her eyes as she thought she'd hurt her baby sister. Ruby just giggles at Yang which confused everyone.

"It's fine Yang. You didn't hurt me. I have coughing fits every now and then because my lungs are weaker than others, so you don't have to worry too much about it." Ruby expertly lies to her sister, using the reason she'd always used if anyone cared enough to ask. Yang still didn't look convinced and neither did Weiss, but Ruby just continued to reassure them that she was fine and they didn't need to worry about anything. After about 10 minutes the pair finally dropped it and turned their attention back to the other three in the room that had been watching the interaction with amusement.

"And what might you be smiling about Nikos?" Yang said teasingly as she stalked towards Pyrrha who was grinning from ear to ear while looking at the trio.

"Well we finally get to meet your sister! I mean you've told us so much about her like how one time she had to run stark na-" Pyrrha began to ramble excitedly until Yang clamped her hand over Pyrrha's mouth while nervously turning to look at Ruby. Ruby was glaring at Yang who let out a nervous laugh, knowing she'd be in for it later. Never trust a red head to keep quiet.

"Annnnnnnywho! Since you've already met the gang I'll introduce you to the gang! Gang meet Ruby, my younger sister!" Yang exclaimed excitedly to everyone, throwing her hands in the air which caused everyone to laugh, even Weiss giggled at the sight.

"It's nice to meet you all! I hope we can be good friends!" Ruby chirped our happily as Nora sped forward and used her hands to squish Ruby's cheeks together.

"Your. So. CUTE!" Nora squealed which made everyone laugh again, even Ruby did through her squished face. Once Nora released Ruby's face the bell rang indicating that the students should start heading towards their first class for the day. Ruby said goodbye to Ren, Nora, Pyrrha, and Weiss before following Yang to where her first period was.

"Here we are, Professor Oobleck for History of Remanent." Yang declared as she pointed to a door just a little ways up the hallway from where they were.

"Thanks Yang. You should probably get going to your class or you're going to be late." Ruby said with a smile before quickly rushing forward to give Yang a hug that was returned before timidly passing by Yang and heading towards her first class of the school year.


	4. Withering Rose: Chapter 3

Ruby took a tentative step into the classroom and was met with the low roar of students chatting with each other before class began. Ruby shrunk away from the loud noises as she made her way towards the teacher who was currently downing a full cup of what appeared to be an expresso while furiously typing away on his laptop. As Ruby grew nearer to the desk the man's head snapped up suddenly and his attention focused on Ruby.

"HowcanIhelpyou?" The man said quickly to Ruby as she fidgeted nervously in front of his desk. He raised an eyebrow at the small girl and wondered if she had walked into the wrong classroom, not looking nearly old enough to be taking the 10th grade class.

"Oh Uhm... I'm going to be in this class. My name is Ruby Rose." Ruby told the energetic man while stealing glances behind her to make sure she wasn't drawing more attention than necessary to herself. To her relief nobody had seemed to notice her talking to the teacher which made her release a small smile onto her face as she turned her attention back to whom she assumed was Professor Oobleck.

"Oh yes Miss Ruby Rose! A pleasure to meet you! Welcome to Beacon! Now, most of the seats are already filled up, but there's one in the back next to Miss Belladonna! Class of about to start so head to your seat please!" Oobleck told Ruby rapidly, talking only slightly slower for the poor girl to try and understand. Luckily, she managed to make out to sit in the back and gave a small nod to him before spinning around on her heel to face the desks that still had students chatting away on top of them. Ruby clutched her binders to her chest tightly as she wormed her way past all the bodies before reaching a desk that appeared to be empty. Ruby figures this was the seat Professor Oobleck had mentioned and set her stuff down and began to unpack until she felt someone's gaze on her. She raised her head with slight confusion as she turned to her right and made eye contact with who she assumed was Belladonna, and she was definitely not what Ruby had been expecting.

Sitting next to her in a desk was a older girl that had raven black hair that was cascading down her back along with a pair of twitching cat ears on top of her head. The girl was wearing a rather revealing black and white crop top if the skimpy piece of clothing could even be called that. The article of clothing hugged the older girl's chest and Ruby thought displayed the girl's set of breasts very nicely which brought a blush to her face. In addition, the girl's smooth, flat stomach was on display for anyone who looked at the girl including Ruby. Ruby's eyes managed to tear themselves away from the girl's enticing stomach before trailing lower along her body. Ruby's face was nearly as red as her cape as she was treated to the sight of black leggings pressed tightly against the girl's plump looking thighs. Ruby ripped her not quite innocent gaze away from the girl's thighs, and brought her gaze to the girl's eyes and sucked in a breath as her silver eyes met amused looking amber colored ones. Ruby felt herself shudder as the girl's gaze tore itself from hers and swept over the younger girl's body before promptly returning to Ruby's eyes again. After a few moments the girl smirked at Ruby before turning to face the board as the bell rang. Ruby was shell shocked and extremely confused about what had just happened, but managed to refocus her attention to the board as she pulled her cloak's hood over her face to hide her burning red cheeks.

The class passed by painfully slow for Ruby who could barely focus thanks to the mysterious girl to her right who didn't even glance at her throughout the lesson which confused Ruby even more. Once the bell rang Ruby scrambled to pack all of her things up before practically barreling over people to get out of the door and find her sister before her next class started. Unfortunately for Ruby, she hadn't gained the knowledge of how the school was laid out over the pass few hours and ended up lost while looking for Yang's math class. Ruby was currently standing in the third hallway she had convinced herself would be where Yang was. She was looking at people as they walked past her and frowned when she didn't notice her sister anywhere until she caught a glimpse of familiar looking blonde hair. Ruby lit up as she threw herself into the sea of people as she shuffled her way through until she reached the owner of the blonde hair and reached out to grab their wrist excitedly.

"Yang! I need some big sis help like ri-" Ruby trailed off as she noticed the wrist she was holding didn't belong to her spunky sister, but to a boy with short blonde hair and bright blue eyes that was looking at her with clear confusion in his eyes. Ruby blushes as she dropped the boy's wrist and quickly sped away from him before he could say anything to her. The hallways were nearly empty once Ruby stopped running and collapsed against a wall along yet another hallway she didn't recognize. Breathing heavily she let out a loud groan before closing her eyes and lightly pressing her head against the cool wall.

"Could this day get any better..." Ruby mumbled to herself and continued to lay against the wall for a few minutes until she felt someone standing over her. Ruby frowned and wondered who wouldn't be in class right now since the bell had rang a few minutes ago. She opened her eyes and drug them upwards to meet familiar amber colored eyes that were gazing down at her with amusement in them. Ruby felt her face start to flush again as the black haired beauty stared down at her with a mischievous little smirk on her face that seemed to grow with every passing second until the girl extended a hand out to Ruby. Ruby looked at the extended hand timidly before shakily taking it and was suddenly pulled up to her feet. Ruby let out a squeak of shock as she stumbled forward due to unbalance and straight into the older girl's chest. Ruby felt her face press against the girl's breasts which she had to admit were rather nice in comparison to Yang's that were just too much, but that was beside the point as she stumbled backward away from the girl with a bright red face. Ruby couldn't bring herself to look up at the older girl in fear of being yelled at for basically violating the girl until she heard a angelic voice giggling.

Ruby's head snapped up to look at the now giggling girl and noticed two things immediately. The first was how the girl's ears had moved to press against the girl's head lightly as she giggled at her, and the second was the crazy amount of butterflies that were now wrecking havoc inside of her stomach.

The older girl stopped giggling as she noticed Ruby watching her timidly before taking a step closer to the girl and leaning in closer to the small girl's face.

"First day and you're already skipping? I honestly expected more from Xiao Long's supposed genius sister." The Black haired girl said blandly as she watched the girl in front of her squirm because of how close she'd gotten to her.

"Y-Yang! You know Yang!" Ruby managed to squeak out since that was about all she understood from what the girl had said much more focused on how close the girl had gotten to her face.

"Everyone knows Yang. She's Beacon's champion boxer." The girl stated to Ruby as she thought back to all the pep rallies she had gone to with the blonde being pitted against another student to get everyone excited. The girl looked down at Ruby whose face had an expression of confusion that made the girl subconsciously smile before she backed away from the younger girl slightly.

"My name is Blake Belladonna and I assume you're You should probably head to class or else a teacher is going to find you and give you detention for skipping." Blake said nonchalantly to Ruby as she began to inspect her nails and started walking away from the little girl until she heard coughing start. Blake's ears swiveled towards he horrible sounding coughs that were coming from behind her and turned around to see Ruby bracing herself against the wall and coughing violently into her shirt's sleeve.

Ruby has propped herself against the wall as another one of her coughing fits came on. She felt the familiar metallic taste of her own blood fill her mouth as she coughed it up out of her lungs and into her sleeve repeatedly. The girl's lungs felt like they were on fire as she continued, and just having chemo didn't help as she became acutely aware of the terrible burning sensation just under her skin. Blake had cautiously approached the girl who was too busy coughing to notice her as she reached out and pressed a hand against her back. Ruby instantly tensed up, but resumed coughing not long after as Blake began rubbing small circles along the younger girl's back. Ruby nearly started screaming out loud as she felt Blake's hand pressing against her skin making it boil even more beneath her skin. Instead tears streamed down her face as she felt like her skin would melt off any second.

Eventually Ruby stopped coughing and immediately scrambled away from Blake as she recomposed herself. Once Ruby had seemed herself presentable she turned around to explain herself to Blake to see that the cat girl had already left which made her heart sink a little for some reason she didn't understand. Deciding to take Blake's advice, Ruby made her way towards where her math class would hopefully be. Thankfully, she had guessed right and arrived halfway through the class being placed next to a boy with silver hair after receiving a stern scolding about being late from Ms. Goodwitch which earned snickers from her classmates. The rest of the period was uneventful as Ruby had already taken Calculus BC the previous year in the comfort of her own room, so instead she spent her time thinking about things. Those things mostly being Blake as the raven haired girl continued to invade Ruby's thoughts. Ruby wondered where she had run off to, and why she had tried to comfort her while she coughed since she was a complete stranger to her along with many other questions she couldn't answer herself. This continued until the bell rang and Ruby stood up with a smile from ear to ear as she started making her way towards the cafeteria.

Beacon academy was different in that it had 3 periods everyday, and alternated between classes on a 3 day schedule. On day 1 like today, Ruby had The History of Remanent with Professor Oobleck first period, AP BC Calculus with Ms. Goodwitch for second period, and finally a lunch period which Ruby was happily looking forward to. Meanwhile, on day 2 Ruby would have AP Language Arts with Professor Port first period, followed by AP Chemistry with Professor Ozpin, and then lunch again. Finally on the 3rd day of the cycle she'd attend AP Physics C with Professor Ozpin, have a free period for 2nd period with lunch right after.

Ruby was still eagerly making a beeline to the cafeteria when she was suddenly picked up off the ground like she weighted nothing. She let out a shocked squeal as she squirmed in her captore's hold until she heard familiar laughter in her ear as her sister put her down on the ground. Yang was standing there with a shit eating grin on her face after having easily lifted her tiny sister. Ruby rolled her eyes at the buff blonde to glance behind and and see a familiar set of Snow White hair.

"Hey Weiss!" Ruby said giddily as she bounced up and down a bit in front of Yang as Weiss shuffled out from behind the tall blonde, watching the energized Ruby bounce in front of her.

"Hello there... what's got you so excited?" Weiss asked Ruby curiously as the trio began making their way towards the lunchroom which wasn't very far now. Ruby grinned widely at Weiss's question before it slipped away because Ruby didn't know why she was so excited right now.

"I'm not sure to be entirely honest... it might be because of this girl I met in my first period class today?" Ruby said to Weiss as more of a question than an answer to the girl's previous question. Weiss opened her mouth to say something to Ruby, but was interrupted by a familiar looking person with ginger hair.

"Hey Weiss! You know how Pyrrha deleted my game this morning? Of course you do! Well, I was wondering if you could uhhhhhhh loan me some money to basically rebuy everything?!" Nora asked the white haired girl as Ruby tried to figure out where Nora had even appeared from before spotting Ren sitting at a table to their right that held a few familiar faces as well as some new ones too. Ruby opened her mouth to try and help when she was suddenly spun around and facing the table with all the people and Yang's arm laid across her shoulders.

"So now its time for you to meet the rest of the gang Rubes! The green haired one is Emerald and she's like super gay." Yang said as she pointed out a girl with green hair who stuck her tongue out at Yang when Yang said she was gay which Yang promptly returned before moving onto the next person.

"That guy right there with the blue hair is Neptune and he's also super gay." Yang said as she pointed to a boy who appeared to be talking to Ren about the best way to clean a dog.

"The monkey Faunus with the tail and bright blonde hair is Sun and he's super gay as well." Yang said as she ducked under a banana peel that Sun threw at her with a big smirk on his face as Yang flicked him off.

"And finally I bring you to the main attraction of our friend group!" Yang exclaims as she releases her hold on Ruby's shoulders to point to a girl with red hair that was currently reading a book and not paying attention to anyone around her. Yang let out an audible groan that made everyone at the table laugh before she stomped over the girl and slammed the book shut. Ruby watched in awe as the girl suddenly turned a bright red color as she glared up at Yang.

"What the hell Yang! You just made me lose my place in my book!" The completely red girl shouted angrily at Yang while Yang just crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

"Well Ilia, if you'd been paying attention or socializing like a normal person you would have seen I was trying to introduce you to my baby sister!" Yang huffed out with annoyance towards Ilia who immediately changed back to her original color before looking up at Yang guiltily.

"Sorry Yang... the book is really good though..." Ilia mumbled before leaning to the side to look at Ruby with curious eyes. Yang let out a sigh before smiling at Ilia and spinning around to face Ruby again.

"Sooooooo whose this girl you met in your first period Rubes?" Yang asked while wiggling her eyebrows and pulling down to sit next to her. I cursed my easily embarrassed self as my face flushed and I hit Yang in the arm.

"Why must you make everything so inappropriate Yang! I'm 15 for gosh sakes!" Ruby exclaimed as everyone around the table laughed at the sister's antics.

"But there is a girl isn't there?" Pyrrha piped up much to everyone's surprise since she usually was busy with homework from one of her twenty AP classes.

"Uh well... yah, but definitely not how you pervs are thinking about it!" Ruby claimed as she crossed her arms.

"Whatever you say Ruby, but at least tell us who she is. I'm sure at least one of us will know her, so we can tell you a bit about her." Emerald said as others nodded in agreement with her. Ruby's curiosity about the strikingly pretty Faunus got the better of her as she let out a sigh.

"Well... she's got really dark raven black hair that falls down her back. She wears this crop top that's black and white and shows off her stomach, and she has a pair of ears on top of her head that look like they're violet!" Ruby described the girl to everyone while staring at her lap and picturing the girl in her head. When she brought her gaze back up to meet everyone else's she was met with looks of shock and surprise.

"Is she talking about who I think she's talking about?" Emerald said as the first one to break the tension filled silence at the table. Everyone at the table besides Ruby gave a nod towards Emerald who immediently whistled before laughing. "Well shit man, Ruby doesn't stand a fucking chance especially if Blake's actually talked to her!" Emerald says with a snort until Neptune slaps her on the shoulder and points towards Yang who Ruby turned to look at in confusion. Ruby couldn't believe the angry girl next to her was sister. Instead of the bright and bubbly Yang that Ruby was used to she saw a Yang that looked ready to kill someone as she clenched her fists tightly underneath the table.

Ruby didn't know what to do, but apparently Weiss did as she reached behind the blonde's before gently squeezing it. Yang visibly relaxed under the Ice Queen's touch before letting out a deep sigh after awhile.

"Sorry..." Yang mumbled under her breath before turning to look at Ruby with sad, angry, and worried eyes. "Ruby. Don't interact with Blake. She's really bad news and you don't need to get caught up with her." Yang said sternly to her sister before she stood up and Weiss followed her towards the bathroom before Ruby could even ask Yang why.

Ruby had thought that Blake had seemed like a nice enough person. Sure, she had been skipping class, but that didn't make Blake a bad person! Ruby felt a scowl form on her face before she stood up and stalked out of the cafeteria while Yang's friends called after her. Once she had exited the cafeteria she began to wander around the school thinking about Blake and what could have possibly made her fun loving sister hate her so much. Ruby was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she hadn't noticed a purposefully extend leg which she proceeded to trip and and hit the ground face first. Letting out a groan of pain, Ruby sat up a bit to see blood dripping onto the floor from what she assumed was her throbbing nose. Ruby heard the sounds of a group of kids laughing and turned around to see a group of four kids laughing at her which made Ruby frown. The biggest one out of the four boys walked closer to Ruby before smirking at her and then kicked her in the ankle causing her to cry out in pain.

"Poor little kid genius! She's so smart, but she can't even protect herself from us!" The big dude that had kicked her said with a wicked grin on his face. Ruby felt the tears start to form, but not from the pain since she had felt much worse pain than these boys could probably ever inflict on her. No, she was going to cry because she didn't understand why these boys were hurting her. She hadn't done anything wrong or done anything to these boys so why were they hurting her? Ruby didn't understand and as the large boy kicked her again her tears began to flow as they cascaded down her face as she curled into a ball and took countless more kicks until suddenly they stopped. Ruby barely managed to lift her head to see a familiar looking raven haired cat girl clawing at the boys who had been attacking her before she passed out into darkness.


End file.
